In 1961, Mr. Wiggins, who became one of the top leaders of the high-profile agency in its earliest years, was an unknown foreign policy adviser whose brief paper, "The Towering Task," landed in the lap of the Peace Corps' first director, R. Sargent Shriver, just as he was trying to figure out how to turn President John F. Kennedy's campaign promise into a working federal department. The response to it became legendary in the agency as "the midnight ride of Warren Wiggins." Shriver, burrowing through correspondence shortly after midnight on Feb. 6, 1961, was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. A small agency was more likely to fail because its projects would not be consequential enough, Mr. Wiggins wrote. Using specific examples, with a proposed staff size and budget, Mr. Wiggins suggested that Kennedy act through an executive order for the quickest start. "Shriver from the beginning saw him as someone who had the spirit of moving big and fast," former senator Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), who was there, said in an interview. "The Peace Corps, small and symbolic, might be good public relations, but a Peace Corps that was large and had a major impact on problems in other countries could transform the economic development of the world."

Warren W. Wiggins, 84, the major architect and organizer of the Peace Corps who wrote the basic philosophical document that shaped its mission, died of atypical Parkinson's syndrome April 13 at his home in Haymarket.

In 1961, Mr. Wiggins, who became one of the top leaders of the high-profile agency in its earliest years, was an unknown foreign policy adviser whose brief paper, "The Towering Task," landed in the lap of the Peace Corps' first director, R. Sargent Shriver, just as he was trying to figure out how to turn President John F. Kennedy's campaign promise into a working federal department.

The response to it became legendary in the agency as "the midnight ride of Warren Wiggins." Shriver, burrowing through correspondence shortly after midnight on Feb. 6, 1961, was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. A small agency was more likely to fail because its projects would not be consequential enough, Mr. Wiggins wrote. Using specific examples, with a proposed staff size and budget, Mr. Wiggins suggested that Kennedy act through an executive order for the quickest start.

Shriver fired off a telegram at 3 a.m., directing Mr. Wiggins to appear later that morning at the Mayflower Hotel, where he had his office.

Caption: Warren Wiggins and President Kennedy.

When Mr. Wiggins appeared, he was astonished to find that his exposition had been mimeographed and distributed to Shriver's task force. According to the 1994 work "A History of National Service in America," Shriver ordered everyone to read the paper, then said it came closer to expressing his views than anything he had seen.

"Shriver from the beginning saw him as someone who had the spirit of moving big and fast," former senator Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), who was there, said in an interview. "The Peace Corps, small and symbolic, might be good public relations, but a Peace Corps that was large and had a major impact on problems in other countries could transform the economic development of the world."

At the time, Mr. Wiggins was a 38-year-old deputy director of Far East operations in the International Cooperation Administration, just the sort of bureaucrat the new administration disdained. But he was no stereotype; he was "totally dissatisfied with the manner in which American overseas programs were run," wrote John Coyne, a historian of the Peace Corps.

Mr. Wiggins never went back to the ICA. Three weeks later, the Peace Corps was born, by executive order.

Mr. Wiggins, a native of Phoenix, left the University of Colorado to serve in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He flew transport planes "over the Hump" in the China-India-Burma theater and received a Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the war, he finished college in Colorado, then received a master's degree in economics from Harvard University in 1949. He served two years on the staff of the Marshall Plan in Norway, then worked for the Eisenhower administration, coordinating economic programs in Western Europe. He then worked for the ICA in the Philippines and Bolivia.

As associate director of program development for the Peace Corps, Mr. Wiggins was at a White House meeting when Kennedy's aides decided that the fledgling agency should report through the established foreign policy bureaucracy. Mr. Wiggins, alarmed, fired off a cable to Shriver, who was overseas. Mr. Wiggins then asked Bill Moyers, deputy director of the Peace Corps, to take a copy of the cable to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and argue the political benefits of an independent Peace Corps. Johnson agreed, addressed the matter with Kennedy, and the decision was reversed.

Mr. Wiggins said the State Department's system of overseas assignments had "tended to squeeze the juices out of a man so he could be packed, preserved and shipped about like a dried apricot." His agency, in contrast, wanted volunteers who would live with residents, frequent local stores and learn the language. "This goes for Thai and Bengali as much as for French and Spanish. The idea that a staff member should polish French, the language of diplomacy, rather than tackle a difficult Asian tonal tongue is an idea we do not buy," he said in 1963.

Mr. Wiggins later served as deputy director of the Peace Corps. He left in 1967 to form TransCentury, a private firm that ran a job center in Anacostia and a remedial education program in New York. During the District's 1968 riots, the TransCentury building at 1520 Seventh St. NW was the only one on the block spared from arson and vandalism.

"It's hard to say exactly why we weren't touched," he said at the time. "It's partly luck, partly because we don't have any enemies and partly because we think we do have some friends on the block. . . . The people in the area know the kind of work we do."

The company closed in 1995, and Mr. Wiggins devoted himself to poetry, sketching and tending his garden, growing persimmons and many vegetables.

Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Edna Abell Wiggins of Haymarket; six children, Bill Wiggins of Livermore, Colo., Karen Wiggins Dowler of Pacifica, Calif., Lisa Ann Wiggins of Port Angeles, Wash., John Reed Wiggins and David Wiggins, both of Haymarket, and Mark Wiggins of Pacific Grove, Calif.; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

"I think he embodied the watchwords that were once given to me: We must be more inventive if we're going to do our duty," Wofford said. "He was ever inventive. He was putting his mind to problems. . . . Warren was not somebody to rest content with falling short. He was ever ready for the quantum leap."

Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace CorpsSenator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments.

He served with honorOne year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

Peace Corps' Screening and Medical ClearanceThe purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process.

The Peace Corps is "fashionable" againThe LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace.

PCOL readership increases 100%Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

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Story Source: Washington Post

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